The prospect of creating a new National Park planning authority in North East Wales has caused “consternation” at Powys County Council, as it could scupper the new replacement Local Development Plan (LDP).

At a meeting of the council’s Economy, Residents and Communities scrutiny committee on Tuesday, January 27, councillors probed the 2026/2027 budget proposals. These included the Economy and Climate department.

This department will not have to make any cuts or savings for next year’s budget, but they are holding money to be spent on preparing and delivering the new replacement Local Development Plan (LDP).

They are holding £349,000 from re-profiled funding for the LDP, and a further £295,000 is held as a potential pressure against it.

It had been estimated that delivering the replacement LDP would cost the council around £2 million overall.

The purpose of an LDP is to guide the future use of land, development, and infrastructure, typically for a period of 15 years. It sets out policies for housing, employment, and environmental protection, serving as the primary basis for deciding planning applications.

Cabinet member for a more prosperous Powys, Cllr Glyn Preston (Liberal Democrat – Llanidloes), explained that planning policy comes under the remit of the Council Leader, Cllr Jake Berriman.

Cllr Preston said: “My understanding is that we’re moving on a slightly different timeframe, which reflects some of the changes in the budget for the LDP. It’s largely the same; it’s just how it’s apportioned across the timeline of the development of the LDP.”

Committee Chairwoman, Cllr Angela Davies (Liberal Democrat – Rhayader), asked: “How is the LDP developing for the county?”

Cllr Berriman (Liberal Democrat – Llandrindod North) explained that the “drop-dead date” for the current LDP is the end of March, but he stressed this would not: “frustrate the ability of the council to continue to use it as a material planning consideration.”

Cllr Berriman added: “We won’t see, as we’ve done in the past, an opening of the floodgates of developments in inappropriate places – the LDP will carry on until we do get a replacement. The replacement plan has been delayed for a number of reasons.

“One of these is the seeking of a new Gypsy and Traveller site in north Powys, in the Welshpool area, which we either need to approve by way of planning application or allocate a site by way of the (new) LDP.

“We’ve also been very conscious of a new national park in the north-east of Wales involving a chunk of Powys. One of the concerns we have, and a reason to object, is that the creation of a new national park planning authority would trigger an automatic review of the LDP.

“That’s caused some consternation to us because we’ve invested a substantial amount of money there, and a review once we have a replacement in place would be somewhat wasteful.”

He added that all councillors will receive a briefing to update them on the situation soon.

Powys councillors have been vehemently against the national park proposal, which is being steered by Natural Resources Wales (NRW). But this is very much a minority view, as only 31 per cent of respondents in the last round of consultation on the proposal, which closed on December 8, were actually against it.

Earlier this month, the NRW board agreed to make the designation order for the proposal, which allows people another opportunity to have their say. This ends on February 15, after which NRW will submit all information and evidence to the Welsh Government to agree the next steps.